ill LP 339 
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Duplicate Schools 

in The Bronx 



TAYLOR 



Duplicate Schools 

in The Bronx 



BY 

JOSEPH S. TAYLOR, Pd. D. 

District Superintendent of Schools 



New York 

Published by the Board of Education 
WILLIAM G. WILLCOX, President 

1916 







D. of D« 
DEC 28 3916 



i 



4. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

Page 

Introduction 5 

Table of Special Activities 9 

The Auditorium 9 

Domestic Science 17 

Drawing 20 

Nature Study 23 

Science . . . : 25 

Sewing 30 

Farming 32 

Millinery 34 

Library 36 

Carpenter and Cabinetmaker 39 

Music 40 

Manual Training 43 

Play and Physical Training 44 

Commercial Work 49 

Machine Shop 52 

Pottery 54 

Sheet Metal Shop 55 

Printing 57 

Periods of Rotation 60 

Method of Assignment to Special Activities 62 



DUPLICATE SCHOOLS IN THE BRONX, 
NEW YORK 

In February, 1915, the first Bronx school was reor- 
ganized in accordance with the duplicate-school plan of 
Mr. William Wirt. An account of the first six months of 
operation under the new system has been published by 
the writer*. Five additional schools inaugurated the 
new plan on February 1, 1916. The six schools included 
in the present account are 6, 28, 42, 44, 45, 53. 

The object of the account is to present facts, useful for 
our guidance in the further development of the schools 
and the correction of mistakes made. Incidentally, the 
public may learn from first-hand testimony what these 
schools are trjdng to do, what are the obstacles to be over- 
come, and what are the results already achieved. 

The information contained in the report was con- 
tributed, in answer to the following questionnaire, by 
principals and teachers employed in the schools considered. 

Questionnaire 

{To he answered by teachers) 

1. The Aim. What do you mean to accomphsh by 
the activity? 

2. The Equiyjnent. What does it consist of? Is it 
adequate? If not, what more do you need? 

3. Supplies. Are your supplies adequate in kind, 
quality, and quantity? If not, specify deficiencies. 

* Educational Review, January, 1916. "A Report on the Gary Experi- 
ment in New York City." 

5 



6 DUPLICATE SCHOOLS IN THE BRONX 

4. The Course of Study. In what respect have you 
modified, or supplemented, or improved upon the pre- 
scribed course of study? What suggestions for further 
modifications have you to make? If no official course of 
study exists, give an outline of the course you have devised. 

5. Summary. Give a list or summary of what children 
have accomplished during the present term. What 
products have you sold? What income have you derived 
from such sales? What did you do with the money? 

6. Handicaps. What have been the chief handicaps 
to success? What remedies do you suggest? State 
possible ways of improving your activity. 

7. Grades. Give the grades of children assigned to 
your activity. 

{To he answered by the Principal.) 

1. How often do children change from one special 
activity to another? Support your scheme of alternation 
by educational arguments. 

2. Explain your method of assigning children to 
special activities. To what extent do you permit children 
to choose? In what order do children take drawing, 
science, shop? Defend your scheme. Do you keep 
records of the assignments of individual children, so that 
at any moment you can tell what a child has had? 
Describe these records with illustrations. 

3. Submit three samples of each kind of special blank 
or report devised by you for the administration of your 
school. 

4. Mention any improvement you can suggest in the 
matter of: 

a. The general program. 

b. The management of special activities. 

c. The academic subjects. 



INTRODUCTION : QUESTIONNAIRE 



d. The welfare of teachers, children, or the school as a 
whole. 

The replies received from several hundred teachers and 
six principals are a candid record of our experience, 
including errors and handicaps. The material was 
assembled primarily for use in conferences, in the hope 
that what is good might be made better, and what 
is ill might be cured. Many of our difficulties are due to 
premature reorganization, most of the schools having 
gone on the new program before proper equipment 
and supplies had been secured. But in spite of errors 
and hindrances, this report shows that many important 
achievements, impossible in an ordinary school, must be 
credited to these schools as a result of only five months 
of operation. The combined register of the six schools 
on May 31, 1916, was 17,406. 

In organizing the material under the several captions 
given in the questionnaire, the writer does not mean to 
convey the impression that such things are peculiar to 
the duplicate school. The object was rather to help the 
teachers to think out their problems. Lack of definite 
aim is one of the commonest faults of teaching. It 
would do any teacher good to stop long enough to con- 
sider his aims. In the duplicate school it is absolutely 
essential that he do so, for one of the prime objects of the 
organization is to develop the initiative of teacher and 
pupil. The equipment is itemized to let the public know 
what the teachers have to work with. The handicaps 
are given because we intend to remove them; and to do 
so we must know what they are. Handicaps are not 
peculiar to the duplicate school. Similar troubles beset 
all teachers. The writer has had thirteen years of 
experience as a classroom teacher in New York, and he 
knows whereof he speaks. In fact, there is not a single 



8 DUPLICATE SCHOOLS IN THE BRONX 

feature of the duplicate school that is not familiar school 
practice somewhere. The only thing that is new is the 
integration of its several parts and processes. 

The report covers only those features of the instruc- 
tion, organization, and management which are charac- 
teristic of the duplicate schools. The standard academic 
subjects — English, mathematics, history, geography — are 
not displaced by anything in the new form of organiza- 
tion. They are, however, taught by the departmental 
system, and supplemented by auditorium exercises, play, 
and shop work. It is too soon to attempt to measure 
the effect of the duplicate organization on the regular 
studies. In five of the schools I have personally made 
no inspection of these subjects since the reorganization 
was effected. I merely remark that, since the traditional 
subjects have about the same time allowance they had 
before and are taught by specialists and supplemented 
by other activities, it would be strange indeed if they 
suffered harm. On the contrary, other things being 
equal, the regular subjects should have a far better 
chance of yielding their best fruits in a school that 
emphasizes initiative, motivation, application, and self- 
help, than in a school where teaching is predominantly a 
matter of juggling words. 

Following is a table of special activities, showing the 
schools in which they are taught: 



AUDITOKIUM EXERCISES 



TABLE OF SPECIAL ACTIVITIES. 



Subject 



Schools 



28 42 44 45 53 Total 



Auditorium. 

Domestic Science 

Drawing 

Nature 

Sewing 

Farming 

Millinery 

Library 

Science 

Carpenter , . 

Cabinet Shop 

Music 

Manual Training 

Play, Physical Training 

Commercial 

Machine Shop 

Pottery 

Sheet Metal 

Printing 

Total 



11 



10 



13 12 



14 12 



THE AUDITORIUM 

1. The Aim The following aims are enumerated by 
the several teachers in charge of auditoriums: 

(1) The correlation of academic subjects. 

(2) The sociaUzation of the child through the 
development of social responsibility and social service. 

(3) The development of initiative, confidence, self- 
control. 

(4) Unification of the school through cooperation 
with classroom work and the promotion of school 
spirit. 

(5) The cultivation of individual morality, appre- 
ciation of good music, a broader knowledge of the 



10 DUPLICATE SCHOOLS IN THE BRONX 



outside world, and self-expression in literature and 
music. 

(6) To deepen the interest and knowledge of 
children in classroom work by means of phonograph, 
piano-player, lantern slides, dramatizations, lectures, 
stories, etc. 

(7) To vivify direct teaching by the indirect method 
of the auditorium, such indirect teaching having 
often greater significance than direct instruction, 
though its value cannot be measured by quantitative 
standards. 

2. The Equipment. Atypical auditorium equipment 
includes the following: 

1 Grand piano. 

1 Oak table with drawer. 

1 Teacher's desk. 

1 Cabinet with drawers for stereopticon slides. 

1 Cabinet for stereographs. 

1 Movable blackboard. 

1 American flag on staff. 

1 Pathescope or other moving picture machine. 

1 Stereopticon lantern. 
1,000 Lantern slides. 
1,000 Stereographs. 
48 Stereoscopes. 

1 Victrola. 
29 Double Phonograph records. 

Film service from Pathescope Company (3 
reels a week). 

8 Movable coat racks. 

1 Screen on roller. 

1 Bible stand. 

1 Music stand. 

1 dozen movable chairs. 

3. Exercises. One school has a program of exercises 
that repeats in cycles of eight different activities, as 
follows: Music and literature; music and geography; 
music and ethics; music and history; music and hygiene; 



AUDITORIUM EXERCISES 11 



music and science; music and current events; music and 
recreation. 

(1) Literature. This work may be divided into two 
parts, — work done by teachers, and work done by pupils. 
The teacher's work consists of lectures or talks on literary 
masterpieces, such as the plays of Shakespeare, the 
Iliad, classic myths, Grimm's Fairy Tales, Kipling's 
Just So stories, animal stories, etc. The work done by 
pupils consists of the reading of original compositions, 
recitation of memory selections, declamations, and 
dramatizations. In a single school sixteen plays were 
given in one term, in which 182 different children had 
parts to play. All holidays were celebrated by a lecture 
or a dramatization, or both. 

(2) Geography. In all grades where geography is 
prescribed, the auditorium work in that subject is cor- 
related with classroom teaching. Much of the work 
consists of lectures by teachers or pupils, lantern and 
moving picture illustrations, and original compositions 
embodying the result of research work. 

(3) Ethics. As far as possible, in the school above 
referred to, the work in ethics is combined with work 
in literature. The sources for ethical stories were chiefly 
these : 

(a) Shedlock's *'Art of the Story Teller." 

(b) Andersen's Tales. 

(c) Tolstoi's Stories. 

(d) The ''Golden Rule" Series. 

(e) Baldwin's 'Tifty Famous Stories." 

(f) ''American Book of Golden Deeds." 

(g) abutter's "The Art Literature Reader." 
(h) Bryant's "Stories to Tell Children." 

(i) Cabot's "Ethics for Children." 



12 DUPLICATE SCHOOLS IN THE BRONX 

(4) Hygiene. This work consists of practical lectures 
on cleanliness, posture/ and other similar topics. Liter- 
ature from the Board of Health is distributed to pupils 
and sent home to their parents. Lectures have been 
delivered to upper grade classes by physicians and nurses 
on such topics as bodily health, care of teeth, proper 
posture, proper clothing, care of eyes, baby week, mos- 
quito week, etc. 

(5) History and Civics, Four lectures were de- 
livered in one school on civics by State Senator Hamilton 
and four by Assemblyman Fertig. In another school 
lectures are delivered once a week by representatives from 
city departments, private organizations, and public 
service corporations. Among the organizations heard 
from by the children are these : 

(a) Police, Fire, and Tenement House Depart- 
ments. 

(b) Electrical Department of the Board of Edu- 
cation. 

(c) The Board of Aldermen. 

(d) New York Telephone Company. 

(e) S. P. C. C. (Society for the Prevention of 
Cruelty to Children). 

(f) A. I. C. P. (Association for the Improvement 
of the Condition of the Poor). 

(g) The machine shop of the school, 
(h) The manual training shop. 

(6) Science. Some of the science teachers have con- 
tributed illustrated lectures on subjects taught in their 
laboratories. In nature study there have been lectures 
for first year pupils on the cat, dog, horse, cow; for 
second year children, on the owl, camel, horse, cow; 
for third year pupils, on the tiger, lion, buffalo, bee; 
for fourth year children, on the spider, clam, oyster, 
turtle; for fifth year pupils, on the sponge, pearl, mos- 



AUDITORIUM EXERCISES 13 

quito, fly; for sixth year children, on the silkworm, fly, 
mosquito. 

(7) Current Events. There have been, in one 
school, illustrated lectures on the building of the Panama 
Canal, the Making of a Newspaper, Electroplating 
Process, the Building of a Bridge, the Great European 
War. On special occasions there are appropriate talks. 
Thus on Memorial Day, there was a lecture on Farragut; 
on Lincoln's Birthday there was a lecture on Monuments 
of Lincoln, with illustrations. 

(8) Recreation, In many schools children present 
folk dances on the stage. They also present dramatiza- 
tions of all sorts, many of the plays being written by the 
children themselves. 

(9) Music. The theory of music is taught in class- 
rooms by specialists and supplemented by choral work in 
the auditorium. Usually one of the auditorium teachers 
has charge of the musical part of the program. In 
one school the following songs were sung in the auditorium 
by the several grades : 

Eighth Grade.— Rest in the Lord; To America; 
Vesper Hymn; Who Is Sylvia?; I Know a Bank; 
Hark, Hark, the Lark; Russian Hymn; The Flag. 

Seventh Grade.— A Hymn; I Know a Bank; 
Hark, Hark, the Lark; To Thee, America; The Lord 
is My Light; Merry Heart. 

Sixth Year. — These Were Four Lihes; A Rose 
Song; To Thee, America; Hark, Hark, the Lark; 
The Star; My Song; Soft Shell Crab. 

Fifth Year.— Hearing; The Woodpecker; The 
Katydid; A Spring Song; Questions; To a Daisy; 
What Robin Told Me. 

Fourth Year.— Indian Lullaby; Winter Song; 



14 DUPLICATE SCHOOLS IN THE BRONX 

Katydid; The Children in Japan; Smelling; The 
Violet. 

Third Year. — A Spring Song; Waiting to Grow; 
Children in Japan; The Ginger Cat; Pussy Willow; 
Snowflakes; The Owl; Brownies' Umbrellas. 

Second Year. — Snowflakes; A Spring Song; The 
Sandman; The Owl; Little Bo Peep; Wing Foo; 
Cradle Song. 

First Year. — Honk, Honk; Teddy Bear; Hurdy 
Gurdy Man; Once I Got Into a Boat. 

The children of this school gave a dozen concerts, 
consisting of duets, trios, quartets, chorus work, and 
playing of various musical instruments, such as violin, 
'cello, and zither. Vocal and instrumental phonographic 
concerts were also provided, the children loaning many 
of the records. I attended one of these the day after I 
had heard a performance of Aida in the Metropolitan 
Opera House. The concert by chance consisted of the 
telling of the story of the opera by a child, followed by 
extracts from the opera rendered by the Metropolitan 
artists. 

One teacher, in his report on the auditorium, says: 
" It is difficult to measure what the children have accom- 
plished. Perhaps it may best be shown by their eagerness 
and desire to come to the auditorium. They seem to 
regard this period as a treat. Judged by this test, the 
activity seems to have accompHshed its aims." 

4. The Grades. In the following table are shown 
the grades that are represented in each auditorium 
period in each of the six schools. The schools that 
show only six periods use a program with fifty-minute 
periods, while those that have eight periods use the 
forty-minute periods. 



AUDITOEIUM EXERCISES 



15 



AUDITORIUM 



75 


Periods and Grades 


1 




1 


2 


3 


4 


5 


6 


7 


8 


6 
28 
42 
44 
45 
53 


2A-3B 
1A-3B 
6B-7B 
8A-8B 
5A-8B 
3B-6B 


4A-6B 
7A-8B 
4A-6B 
4A-4B 
1A-4B 
2A-3B 


7A-8B 
7A-8B 
6B-7B 
2A-2B 
5A-8B 
6B-8B 


7A-8B 
1A-3B 
3B-6A 
7A-7B 
1A-4B 
6A-8B 


4A-6B 
4A-5A 
1A-3B 
3A-3B 
5A-8B 
2A-3B 


2A-3B 
5B-6B 

8A-8B 
5A-5B 
1B-4A 
4A-6B 


3B-5A 

8A-8B 
lA-lB 
4B-8B 


5B-6B 
1A-3B 
6A-6B 
1A-4A 



Much has been made by opponents of the duplicate 
plan of the alleged impossibility of doing profitable work 
where so many grades are taught together. It is quite 
common to find in an assembly of the traditional schools 
as many as eight grades. These sing choruses together, 
listen to recitations of pupils, and hear talks by principals 
teachers, and visitors. The largest number of grades 
found in any group in the above table is eight, while one 
school has no more than two grades present at any time. 

5. Handicaps. A significant feature of these reports 
is that some teachers devote nearly all their space to a 
summary of achievements and constructive criticism, 
while others occupy most of the room with complaints 
and negative criticism. Yet they all have substantially 
the same opportunity. The success of auditorium work 
depends very largely upon the abihty and attitude of 
those in charge. Teachers who have the necessary 
breadth of knowledge and sympathy and possess social 
vision are enthusiastic about this feature of the duplicate 
school. Those who cannot or will not see the meaning 
of it all, fret about hours, and wraps, and seats, and 
find no joy in the business. As soon as possible such 



16 DUPLICATE SCHOOLS IN THE BRONX 

teachers will receive more congenial assignments. The 
theory of the duplicate school assumes that we have 
specialists for each activity who are in sympathy with 
its aims and possess the necessary skill for the accom- 
plishment of such aims. 

The handicaps enumerated by the several auditorium 
reports are as follows: (1) Not enough teachers; (2) 
Too many grades; (3) Care of wraps; (4) Unadjusted 
seats; (5) Poor ventilation; (6) Switchboard for Hghts 
in the hall; (7) Lack of hght-proof transoms; (8) 
Drafts; (9) No plug in the floor for pathescope; (10) 
Lateness; (11) Period too long (50 min.); (12) Pillars 
in the room; (13) Too many changes in the auditorium 
groups. 

Many of these complaints are well founded. In 
winter, when the fans are running, the ventilation of the 
modern auditorium is good; in warm weather, when 
these fans stop, the ventilation is poor. While the room 
was in use only fifteen minutes a day, the question of 
ventilation was comparatively unimportant; now that 
the room is in continuous use, ventilation is all important. 

It is possible, as shown in the case of Public School 44, 
to have assemblies with only two grades present; but in 
order to accomphsh this, other things, possibly more 
important, have to be sacrificed. It is quite possible 
to have, during the same period, exercises adapted to 
different groups of children present at an assembly. 
For instance, one teacher may tell a story suitable for 
first-year pupils. If third-year pupils are present they 
will gladly listen to the story. This may be followed by 
a song for third-year children. Then there may be 
dramatization, or victrola music, or lantern slides, which 
will be equally interesting to all. 



DOMESTIC SCIENCE 17 



Where lockers have not been provided in sufficient 
quantities to care for the children's wraps, immediate 
steps should of course be taken to remedy the defect. 
There is a solution to this problem of wraps, and there 
is no good reason why the board of education should 
justify further complaint. To avoid carrying wraps, 
children will have to deposit their clothing in the place 
where they will be during the last period of a session. 
This means that there must be in or near the auditorium 
lockers to accommodate all the children that assemble 
there during a given period. The yard also must have 
lockers for one division; and each classroom, shop, and 
studio must have locker room for as many children as it 
holds. In case of a fire-drill during inclement weather, 
a preliminary signal is given to send children where their 
wraps are. This has to be done in the traditional school 
also for all departmental pupils. In case of a real emer- 
gency, the children would of course be sent to a place of 
safety without wraps. 

The matter of seats is not easy to remedy. The 
duplicate school is no different in this respect from any 
other. The auditorium of a school is meant to be used 
at night for lectures to adults or meetings of parents. 
The seats are therefore rather too large for children. 
If they are made to fit children they are too small for 
adults. A compromise is all we can hope for; that is, 
a seat reasonably comfortable for children, even if it 
cramps adults. 

DOMESTIC SCIENCE 

1. Aim. Here is the way the aims are enumerated 
by the teacher of the school that has operated longest 
under the duplicate plan: 



18 DUPLICATE SCHOOLS IN THE BRONX 

(1) To have children become familiar with house- 
hold utensils and accustomed to their use. 

(2) To give practice in preparing food in quanti- 
ties sufficient for an average family. 

(3) To teach economy in buying and preparing food. 

(4) To teach children the best ways of keeping 
themselves and their homes clean and sanitary. 

(5) To give practice in combining foods so as to 
supply all the needs of the body. 

(6) To have children appreciate the necessity, in 
a lunchroom, of fixing the selling price of food in 
relation to the expenses involved. 

(7) To teach color harmony for home decoration. 

2. Equipment. A typical equipment is something 
like the following: 

(1) Cooking tables with cupboard and drawer for 
utensils, for about 24 children. 

(2) Cupboards for class utensils, dishes, and food 
supplies. 

(3) Two gas ranges. 

(4) Equipment for table setting — table linen, 
silver, dishes, chairs, etc. 

(5) Apparatus for cleaning and house work — 
brushes, cleaning cloths, boiler. 

(6) Laundry equipment — tubs, washboards, towel 
racks, ironing boards and stands. 

(7) Home nursing — couch, bed linen, bandages. 

(8) Refrigerator. 

Public School 45 has added to the above out of the 
profits of the kitchen, or a private purse: 

(9) An electric dishwasher. 

(10) An electric towelwasher. 

(11) Steam table. 

(12) Coffee percolator. 

(13) Tea wagon. 

(14) Water cooler. 

(15) Cash register. 

(16) Kitchen scales. 



DOMESTIC SCIENCE 



19 



3. Supplies. The supplies are purchased and paid 
for by the teacher, who renders a bill in tripUcate to 
the department of education at the end of the month. 
In due time— usually in a month or so— she receives a 
check from the finance department. One teacher com- 
plains that "the supplies are inadequate on account 
of insufficient allowance. The present rate is 1^ 
cents per child per lesson; 23^ cents would be better." 
In schools having service kitchens where food is 
sold, part of the supplies are paid for out of current 
receipts. 

4. Course of Study. Two teachers have followed 
the prescribed course. All the rest report modifications, 
either slight or radical. 

(1) ''I have changed the course by teaching quick 
breads at the end of the seventh year instead of at the 
beginning, and by teaching yeast breads in the eighth 
year instead of the seventh." 

(2) A school with service kitchen reports: 

''The present course of study is planned for four terms' 
work, consisting of a lesson per week, with preparation of 
food in small quantities. As my pupils come daily for 
a period of thirteen weeks, and as they go alternately to 
the lunchroom and the theory room— the class being 
divided in half for that purpose— that course cannot be 
used. The work in the lunchroom consists solely of the 
preparation of the lunch, and the constant clearing away 
of accumulated soiled dishes, etc. Girls are also trained 
to take charge of the cash-register during the time when 
lunches are sold. 

"The work in the theory room is correlated as much as 
possible with the work in the kitchen, as costs, nutritive 
value and methods of preparation of foods, sanitation, 
menus, etc., are constantly discussed; in addition, other 
knowledge needed by a homemaker, such as proper com- 
bination of colors used in a home, proper methods of 
cleaning, etc., is imparted. One class also keeps a daily 



20 DUPLICATE SCHOOLS IN THE BRONX 

and weekly record of expenditures, income, number 
served, etc., on blanks printed in the school." 

5. Handicaps. " Not time enough " is the com- 
plaint of several. Two teachers suggest that children 
be allowed to remain in the kitchen all of the morning 
session or all of the afternoon session. The first class 
in the morning never sees the completed food. One of 
these teachers also wants a large storeroom, so that food 
may be purchased in quantities and for less cost. 

6. Grades. Two schools include only the 7th and 
8th years; one has grades 4B-8B; two have 5A-8B; 
and one has 6B-8B. 

DRAWING 

1. Aim. 

(1) To give children the ability to draw rapidly and 
accurately simple objects and groups of objects in- 
volving the principles of perspective. 

(2) To teach good color combinations and their 
applications. 

(3) To cultivate appreciation of good art. 

(4) To enable children to make simple working 
drawings and to construct geometric forms. 

(5) To make such occasional free-hand sketches 
as mechanics are called upon to make. 

(6) To arouse an interest in the subject. 

(7) To develop the power to appreciate and enjoy 
beauty and perfection in things about us, whether 
they be the works of God or man. 

(8) To make drawing a ready means of expression. 

(9) To cultivate good taste and originality. 

2. Equipment. Thus far the authorities have pro- 
vided no special room for drawing. In all cases the 
teachers are using a conventional classroom with sta- 
tionary seats and desks. 



THE TEACHING OP DRAWING 21 

The equipment includes the following items: 

(1) Clay models. 

(2) Wooden models (made in school shop). 

(3) Paper models (supplied by teachers). 

(4) Drawing boards, T-squares, rulers. 
One teacher has added to the above: 

(5) Eight easels (made in workshop). 

(6) Six trays (made in workshop). 

(7) Five large bulletin boards (made in shop). 

(8) An assortment of bottles, jugs, vases, etc. 

All the teachers properly criticize the inadequacy of 
these equipments. Here is a schedule of their wants: 

(1) Shades adjustable at the top as well as at the 
bottom. 

(2) Model stands. 

(3) A sink and running water for color work. 

(4) Adjustable drawing tables and stools. 

(5) Sets of mechanical drawing instruments. 

3. Supplies. Some teachers are satisfied and some 
are not. Among the wants recorded are these: 

(1) Colored charcoal paper for rapid sketching by 
teacher and children; (2) Large gray manilla paper, 
19'' by 24" for use of teacher; (3) Prompt delivery; 
(4) Small sponges for cleaning paint boxes; (5) 
Pieces of chamois for making erasures on charcoal 
drawings; (6) Paper and chamois stumps for char- 
coal work, and stump powder; (7) Tempora water 
colors; (8) Individual sets of colored crayons; (9) 
Scissors. 

4. Course of Study. Of the sixteen teachers report- 
ing, eight have followed the prescribed course without 
modification; two have supplemented it with additional 
exercises; five have made modifications under the advice 
of special teachers of drawing, and one — a teacher of 
trade drawing — has made his own course, under the 
direction of the principal. 



22 DUPLICATE SCHOOLS IN THE BRONX 

The modifications consist of a condensation of the 
material on account of a reduction in the time allowance. 
The course was supplemented in the following ways : 

(1) Studies of animal life in the Zoo. One class 
made eleven trips in one term for sketching animals. 

(2) Landscape sketching. Frequent trips to parks 
and fields for this purpose. 

(3) Use of copies of landscape forms, animals, 
illustrations, posters, etc. 

(4) Study of poster advertising. 

(5) Elementary design. 

(6) Advanced pupils organized into art clubs for 
work in charcoal and water color. 

Trade Drawing (10 weeks) 

(1) Problems to illustrate essential definitions. 

(2) Laying out the sheet — border and cutting lines. 

(3) Lettering, figures, fractions. 

(4) Alphabet of lines — straight line work. 

(5) Basket- weave — straight line work; measure- 
ments and use of triangles. 

(6) Application of basket-weave; exercise for draw- 
ing lines of definite length. 

(7) Box made of solid block, sides and bottom 
half inch thick; three views and isometric; completely 
dimensioned. 

(8) Rectangular object like inverted T, 3 views 
and isometric, completely dimensioned. 

(9) Rectangular object, 3 views and isometric, 
completely dimensioned. 

(10) Assembly drawing of box, 5 pieces; 3 views 
and isometric. 

(11) Object with oblique surfaces; 3 views and 
isometric. 

(12) Same. 

(13) Curved work, use of instruments. 

(14) Cylindrical object; 3 views and isometric. 

(15) Same. 

(16) Cast-iron bracket; 3 views and isometric. 



NATURE STUDY TEACHERS 23 

5. Handicaps 

(1) Inadequate seating capacity, two children 
being required to sit in one seat; (2) Traveling from 
room to room instead of having a specially equipped 
studio; (3) ''Discontinuous work/' that is, assign- 
ment of children for thirteen weeks, then sending 
them to some other activity (this complaint comes 
from a number of teachers) ; (4) Two or more teachers 
occupying the same room; (5) Short periods; (6) Lack 
of storage room; (7) Stair duty (shortens period by 
ten minutes). 

6. Grades (1A-8B). 

NATURE STUDY 

1. Aim. As conceived by the teachers of the subject, 
the composite aims of nature study comprise the follow- 
ing items: 

(1) To cultivate a love of animal and plant life. 
(This is expressed in various terms, such as interest, 
desire to know, appreciation, kindness to animals, 
sympathy, etc.). 

(2) Development of the powers of observation; 
imagination; judgment. 

(3) Correlation with geography, art, and language. 

(4) Information about common things in the 
child's environment, including the interdependence of 
man and nature. 

2. Equipment. This varies in different schools. 
Some have as yet no special equipment at all. In two 
or three cases nature study is taught in the science 
room, which is equipped with demonstration table and 
water and gas attachments. Most of the teachers have — 

(1) A fresh water aquarium. 

(2) Growing plants. 

(3) Specimens, including shells, coral, moss, nests, 
wood. 



24 DUPLICATE SCHOOLS IN THE BRONX 

(4) Sets of specimens from the Museum of Natural 
History (which may be had for the asking) . 

3. Supplies. Many teachers say they have none, by 
which they mean that the board of education furnishes 
none. Of the needs recorded the following are examples: 

(1) Charts of animal and plant life (these are on 
the list) ; (2) Metal trays for growing plants (can be 
made by our sheet metal shop); (3) Magnifying 
glasses for use of children; (4) Loose-leaf note books; 
(5) Stereoscopes and stereographs; (6) Aquarium; 
(7) Terrarium (can be built by manual training 
shop); (8) Test tubes, bottles, thermometers, iodine, 
etc. (these are on the list.) 

It is of course the intention of the board of education 
to give these teachers all the equipment and supplies 
needed for the best work. 

4. Course of Study. Most of the teachers have 
followed the course of study prescribed for ordinary 
schools. Others have supplemented the course by 
dramatizations, talks on specimens brought in by children, 
etc. One teacher used Gulick and Jewett's " Town and 
City " as a text for a course in sanitation and hygiene 
in the sixth year, for which grade no official course of 
study exists. In another school the nature study of the 
fifth year was reviewed and extended in the sixth year. 
In one case an elementary course in agriculture was 
devised, including the following topics: 

(1) Origin of soil; (2) Use of soil; (3) Tillage of 
soil; (4) Moisture of soil; (5) What plants do; (6) 
Classes of plants; (7) Food of plants; (8) Color of 
plants; (9) Motion of plants; (10) Plants and their 
partners. 

In another school this procedure obtained: The 
prescribed course of study was planned for a period of 



SCIENCE TEACHERS 25 



about one hour a week, and as each one of the classes 
receives instruction for forty-five minutes a day every 
day in the week, the course is inadequate. Therefore 
the course in each grade was supplemented by topics 
taken from higher grades. Also specimens brought in 
by the children were studied. One lesson a week was 
given to silent reading, followed by discussion. Once 
every two or three weeks the children devoted a period 
to asking each other questions about things they had seen, 

5. Handicaps: 

(1) *'Have no room of my own; specimens and 
pictures must be carried about." 

(2) ''Have too many different children." 

(3) ''Some subjects not interesting to children; 
reproduction not interesting." 

(4) "Need funds to buy supplies from day to day." 



6. Grades (1A-6B). 



SCIENCE 



One of the fundamental differences between the dupli- 
cate school and the ordinary school, is in the teaching 
of science. Science teaching in the elementary school, in 
spite of notable recent improvements through the nature- 
study movement, is still exceedingly unsatisfactory. 
The chief difficulty has been the matter of teachers and 
equipment. The science teacher, to be successful, must 
be an expert. If he is an expert, he will demand oppor- 
tunities to teach by the heuristic method. But this 
means one of two things: either nature must be brought 
into the classroom, or the child must go to nature. 
Under the class system of teaching neither procedure is 
possible. The school board cannot afford a science 
equipment in every room; and even if the expense were 



26 DUPLICATE SCHOOLS IN THE BRONX 

not prohibitive, such a plan would be a foolish waste of 
money. Neither is it possible for all teachers to do 
excursion work on a large scale. 

By departmentalizing the instruction one or two 
thoroughly equipped laboratories may be provided for 
real science teaching, and instructors properly trained 
can do the work. 

In New York we make a distinction between " science' ' 
and ''nature study." Nature study is provided by the 
syllabus for the first five grades, while elementary science 
is given in the last two years. Nature study is more or 
less informal and has no equipment provided for it. It 
is supposed to be done by the method of observation; 
but frequently it is a mere matter of telling, if it is not 
neglected altogether. It has ends other than those of 
science, such, for example, as the love of nature, the 
appreciation of the art side of nature, its correlation with 
literature, etc. Science is taught in a room provided 
with a demonstration table containing gas and water 
attachments. There are also certain supplies provided 
for making physical experiments. 

The science room, however, is by no means universal. 
Many schools do not have departmental teaching in the 
upper grades, and these could not properly use a science 
room if they had one. 

In the duplicate school the distinction between science 
and nature study is not so sharply drawn. Both are 
taught by experts, and both have or will have special 
equipment. . Hence, both employ the method of science. 

1. Aim. Among the aims of science teaching enum- 
erated by teachers of the subject are these: 

(1) To give the pupil some knowledge of the laws 
of nature; and consequently — 



SCIENCE TEACHERS 27 

(2) To enable him to explain some of the ordinary 
phenomena of his environment. 

(3) To arouse an interest which will impel the 
pupil to continue his investigations after school days 
are over. 

(4) The application of the principles of common 
machines, devices, and instruments which the pupil 
finds in his daily life. 

(5) To enrich his fund of knowledge and enlarge 
the scope of intelligence. 

(6) To develop the power of oral and written ex- 
pression by the delivery of lectures on current scien- 
tific events and written reports on experiments per- 
formed. 

(7) To correlate with science mechanical and 
illustrative drawing as a further means of expression. 

(8) To develop the scientific spirit and habit; 
logical reasoning on established facts. 

2. Equipment. A science laboratory in Gary, Indi- 
ana, has equipment for individual experiments by 
pupils. In New York the duplicate schools have thus 
far made use of the science rooms as they found them; 
that is, with demonstration table for the teacher only. 
The ingenuity of teachers, however, has in some cases, 
overcome the handicaps of equipment by the group 
method of instruction. In one school, for instance, half 
a dozen groups may be found at work in different parts 
of the room, each engaged on a different problem. The 
older children make the experiments, the younger are 
observers and helpers. They all develop a very marked 
degree of initiative, interest, and power of expression. 

Here is a fist of articles supplied in an ordinary science 
room: 

(1) Apparatus for demonstrating the mechanical 
powers, pressure of liquids, and the principles of 
sound and light; (4) Static electricity outfit; (5) Wet 
cells; (6) Dry cells; (7) Bells; (8) Apparatus for 



28 DUPLICATE SCHOOLS IN THE BRONX 

magnetism; (9) General electrical equipment; (10) 
Projecting lantern or balopticon. 

One teacher reports the need of the following in addition 
to the above list: 

1 Transformer; 6 Electromagnets; 3 Telegraph 
sets; 2 St. Louis motors; 3 doz. Push Buttons; 
1 Magneto; 2 Galvanometers; 3 Voltometers; 3 Am- 
meters; 1 Telephone transmitter; 9 Tables (these 
are being built in the carpenter shop). 

Another wants an assortment of cheap tools to illus- 
trate the principles of machines, a cheap pump or two, 
a violin, a collection of mechanical toys, electrical de- 
vices. 

3. Supplies. No clear distinction is made between 
equipment and supplies. However, here are some things 
needed: A large supply of rubber and glass tubing; 
Florence flasks; thistle tubes; test tubes; and dry 
batteries. One teacher has no lantern. 

4. Course of Study. Some schools have confined 
themselves to the experiments prescribed by the syllabus; 
others have completed these and gone far beyond. One 
reports as follows: " Static electricity has been omitted, 
as it has no practical bearing on the electrical world or 
the child's future. In addition to the voltaic cell, which 
is seldom used, we include various commercial types, such 
as Carbon Cylinder, LeClanche, Gravity, Bunsen, 
Samson, and Gordon. We have also included these 
topics: Rheostat, Induction Coil, Transformer, Wiring 
Bells, Copper Plating, etc. All abstract experiments 
were omitted. Instead of levers, the scientific study of 
various types of lever-arm scales has been substituted. 
Gravity is studied by means of scales depending on that 
principle for their operation. An attempt is made to 



SCIENCE TEACHERS 29 

train the motor sense in judging weight. A concrete 
basis is thus given to the abstract mathematical tables of 
weights and measures." 

Another teacher says: '^ As no course of study exists 
for science in the 5th and 6th years, I have devised one. 
This course treats of the chemistry of air, including a 
study of oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, etc., sources and 
uses of each." 

In another school the 6th year science is closely related 
to civics, thus: 

(1) Overcrowding of population. 

(2) Tenement House Department — its work. 

(3) Use of alcoholic liquors — results — prohibition. 

(4) Unclean streets — results. 

(5) Work and methods of Street Cleaning Depart- 
ment. 

(6) Disposal of city waste. 

(7) Parks, playgrounds, baths, and beaches. 

(8) Fire prevention — work of Fire Department. 

5. Handicaps. Several teachers find fault with the 
periodic method of assigning children to science. They 
think better results would be obtained by continuous 
study. While a pupil is in science he recites every day 
in the week; after thirteen weeks, or some other fixed 
period, he goes to another activity like drawing or shop. 
To make science teaching continuous, it would be neces- 
sary to limit the number of recitations to one or two 
per week. 

Another says science ''used to count one-twentieth 
toward a pupil's promotion; now it counts only one 
one-hundredth." 

This is a matter within the principal's control and is 
therefore easily remedied. 

One is annoyed by insufficient equipment and two report 
no handicaps. * 



30 DUPLICATE SCHOOLS IN THE BRONX 

6. Grades. Some schools have limited the work to 
the seventh and eighth grades; others go down as far 
as 5A. The intention is to give the work to children 
of the last four years, and to give all the rest nature 
study. 

SEWING 

1. Aim. The object of this activity is formulated 
collectively by the teachers in charge as follows: 

(1) To have a pleasant place to come to. (Making 
the classroom attractive is no small part of success in 
teaching.) 

(2) To interest children in their work so that they 
may do it joyfully after school is over. 

(3) To teach the making of garments that may be 
used. 

(4) To teach the selection of materials and develop 
taste in decoration of dresses. 

(5) Ethical aims; neatness, accuracy, economy, 
originality, patience, perseverance. 

(6) Summary: ''We are trying to develop careful, 
economical, self-reliant needlewomen, independent in 
the matter of making their own clothes.^' 

2. Equipment. A typical equipment is as follows: 

6 New Home Sewing Machines. 

10 Small tables. 

42 Sewing chairs. 

15 Lap boards. 

1 Movable blackboard. 

1 Set of lockers. 

6 Stools for machines. 

1 Large 15 ft. cutting table. 

2 Screens. 

6 Y2 doz. Scissors. 

Y2 doz. Shears. 

8 Buttonhole scissors. 



SEWING TEACHERS 31 



2 doz. Emery bags. 
1 Blackboard ruler. 
1 Pair blackboard compasses. 

3. Supplies. Some schools are not pleased with the 
supphes furnished. For instance: ''The supplies were 
not adequate in kind or quality. The materials were 
too coarse and cheap to enable us to sell garments for a 
price which would pay for the necessary labor. The 
laces and ribbons were not suitable. The lace was too 
wide and cheap, the ribbons were too vivid in color. 
The consequence was that instead of decorating garments, 
these trimmings deformed them, and thus defeated our 
esthetic aim." 

One teacher says the scissors are of a poor quality and 
require frequent repairing; the pins are often rusty; 
thimbles blacken the finger; thread is inferior, especially 
for machines, spools often containing short pieces of 
thread. 

4. Course of Study. One school followed the sug- 
gestions of the sewing supervisor; three followed the 
official course without modification; two modified the 
course or substituted an original one. One teacher who 
departed from the regular syllabus says: 

*T did not follow the course of study, but allowed each 
girl to progress as fast as she was able to go. In other 
words, the teaching is individual. If a sixth-year girl can 
do eighth-year work, I give it to her. This is an improve- 
ment upon the regular course which keeps the class to the 
speed of the slowest girl. The plan I follow generally is: 

5th Year 

(1) Hand sewing; various stitches; fancy aprons. 

(2) Machine practice. 

(3) Children's petticoats, mostly hand made. 



32 DUPLICATE SCHOOLS IN THE BRONX 

6th Year 

(1) Machine practice. 

(2) Night gown. 

(3) Simple one-piece dress. 

7th Year 

(1) Play dress and bloomers. 

(2) Rompers. 

(3) Chemise, embroidery design. 

8th Year 

(1) Middy blouse. 

(2) Simple dress. 

(3) Chemise. 

(4) Embroidery. 

Two other schools have similar courses. One of these 
uses the official course for fifth and sixth years. 

5. Handicaps: 

(1) Size of classes and lack of cotton. (One 
teacher had register of 50.) 

(2) Too frequent reassignment; many children 
unable to complete garments. 

(3) More than one teacher using a room, so that it 
was difficult to prepare work in advance. 

(4) Not having a fixed room for the work (in the 
lower grades, sewing teachers sometimes go to the 
rooms where children are). *' Carrying around 
bundles of cord and raffia all day is tiresome." 

6. Grades. Sewing is prescribed for all grades after 
the third. The formal work with machine sewing is 
usually reserved for grades 5 A to 8B. 

FARMING 

Only one school has this activity; namely, 45. 

1. Aim. To teach the rudiments of horticulture and 
agriculture. 



THE FAKMER AND HIS GARDEN 33 



2. Equipment. A greenhouse (constructed by the boys 
of the carpenter shop), heating apparatus, cold frames, 
supply of garden tools, a garden, and a five-acre farm. 

3. Supplies. Not adequate. Need soil for the 
growing of plants and seeds in winter in the greenhouse, 
fertilizers, coal for greenhouse, books on gardening and 
farming, encyclopedia of agriculture, encyclopedia of 
horticulture. 

4. Course of Study. Time allowance, 4 eighty- 
minute periods a day. Topics: 

(1) Preparing soil for planting. 

(2) Sowing seeds. 

(3) Planting plants. 

(4) Studying nature and uses of plants and seeds. 

(5) Hoeing and weeding. 

(6) Diseases of plants, and remedies. 

(7) Insect pests and how to exterminate them. 

5. Work Accomplished: The children have planted 
the whole garden with seeds and flowers. This garden 
is certainly a credit to the school. 

Vegetables: Beans, beets, cabbage, corn, cauliflower, 
celery, kohlrabi, lettuce, onions, parsley, pumpkins, 
radishes, squash, spinach, tomatoes, egg plant. 

Flowers: Geraniums, fuchsias, verbenas, carnations, 
nasturtiums, sweet peas, coleus, snapdragon, ageratum, 
calendula, astors, zinnias, balsams, petunias, dahhas, 
candytuft, vinca, salvia; which in due time will mature 
and produce considerable revenue. 

So far this season we have sold one dollar and eighty 
cents' worth of spinach, onions, and radishes, which 
amount was turned over to the children's welfare fund. 

The farm has sold several hundred dollars' worth of 
products. 



34 DUPLICATE SCHOOLS IN THE BRONX 

6. Handicaps: 

(1) Necessary funds to finance the activity. 

(2) Improvement of property by the board of 
education. 

Thus far the garden has been on private property, 
hence the board could spend no pubHc funds on same. 
The garden, however, has now been purchased by the 
city. The farm is a part of Bronx Park. 

7. Grades (5B-8B). 

MILLINERY 

1. Aim. Two schools teach millinery. The aims 
formulated by the teachers may be summarized thus: 

(1) To educate girls for everyday life. 

(2) To form habits of neatness, industry, and thrift. 

(3) To enable girls, possibly, by and by, to earn a 
livelihood in the trade. 

2. Equipment. One school has 

5 Work tables. 

6 Hat stands. 

1 Electric iron. 

The other has just the ordinary furniture of an aca- 
demic classroom. 

One teacher calls for a pressing board and a steamer 
for renovating used materials. 

3. Supplies. The complaint made by the sewing 
teachers is here repeated: ** The materials sent were too 
coarse and cheap to sell to advantage. The velvet was a 
cheap quality of velveteen." 

4. Course of Study. There is no official course in 
existence, so each teacher devised her own syllabus. 
Here is one of them: 



MILLINERY CLASSES 



35 



2nd Week 
3rd Week: 

4th Week: 

5th Week: 

6th Week: 
7th Week: 
8th Week: 



1st Week: Making work bag. 
Making needle case. 
Making pads and sticks for trimming. 
Making different kinds of bandeaux. 
Wiring and covering bandeaux. 
Preparing hat linings: 

(1) Straight hemmed lining. 

(2) Shirred lining. 

(3) Cap lining. 
Making milliners' folds : 

(1) Plain fold (narrow). 

(2) French fold (wide). 
Making buckram frames: 

(1) Simple sailor frame. 

(2) Mushroom frame. 
Covering and trimming the frame with 

materials of the season. 
Covering crown made from buckram. 
Making various brim finishes. 
Making flowers from ribbon and silk: 

(1) Daisies. 

(2) Poppies. 

(3) Violets. 

(4) Apples, etc. 
Bow making: 

(1) Tied bow. 

(2) Butterfly bow, etc. 
Making wire frame: 

(1) Simple sailor frame. 

(2) Wire crown. 
Making mushroom wire frame. 
Making turban wire frame. 
Wire crown for turban frame. 
Shirring different kinds of materials 

over wire frame. 
Preparing soft top crowns. 
Blocking cape net frames. 
Renovating used materials. 
Sewing straw on cape net frames. 
Making straw crowns. 
Preparing trimmings. 



9th Week: 

10th Week: 

11th Week: 

12th Week: 
13th Week: 



36 DUPLICATE SCHOOLS IN THE BRONX 

The other one follows: 

Spring Term 

(1) Illustration of stitches used. 

(2) Renovating silk, velvet, lace, chiffon. 

(3) Cleaning and pressing felt, straw, beaver. 

(4) Cutting and wiring shaped bandeaux; use of 
bandeaux. 

(5) Textiles: as velvet, cotton, silk, ribbon, lace- 
proper method of cutting, joining, and placing on 
frames with reference to weave, etc. 

(6) Color, contour, and suitability of material. 

(7) Milliner's folds and plain folds. 

(8) Linings: for caps — bias and straight. 

(9) Hemming: roll and straight. 

(10) Making plaits: single box, double box, triple 
box, side plaiting. 

(11) Making cord: plain velvet, shirred. 

(12) Draft patterns for buckram hats: cut buckram 
shapes from patterns; wiring and binding edgewire 
with crinoline and covering frames with straw braid. 

(13) Trimming hats. 

Winter Term 
Not worked out in detail because the class has been 
in existence during only one term. 

5. Handicaps: One teacher properly asks for better 
accommodations, because she has no special equipment. 
The other complains of — 

(1) Too many grades. (5A-8B.) 

(2) Overcrowded groups. 

(3) Delay in delivery of supplies. 

(4) Poor quality of supplies. 

LIBRARY 

Some of the schools have not yet installed a library 
I have only four reports. None of the schools are able 
to use a public library in connection with school work. 



LIBRARY WORK 37 



Library work is new in the district. In no case has a 
library been in operation for more than one term. 

1. Aim. The aims of library work as formulated by 
the teachers in charge may be stated thus: 

(1) To cultivate the reading habit and to encourage 
reading in public libraries. 

(2) To teach good reading methods, e.g., reading 
to a finish; reading things worth while; acquaintance 
with standard authors and their works; correct pos- 
ture; source of light; care of books, etc. 

(3) To teach proper use of the library; finding 
books; use of works of reference. 

(4) To supplement work in history, literature, 
science, geography, etc. 

^ (5) To inspire a love of good literature and cul- 
tivate the habit of concentration. 

2. Equipment. The standard equipment, aside from 
books, is as follows: 

10 Steel sections, each containing six shelves. 

8 Tables of poHshed quartered oak. 
64 Chairs. 

1 Desk chair. 

1 Librarian's desk. 

1 Catalogue unit containing four drawers. 

The number of books varies. The collection is at 
present made up of volumes formerly in class libraries, 
supplementary reading sets, and works of reference. 

3. Course of Study. None has been provided. 
Here is one devised by a teacher: 

(1) Proper handling of books: how to open a 
book; place marking; cleanliness, etc. 

(2) Classification: finding books on shelves. 

(3) Use of catalogue. 

(4) Rapid use of dictionary and encyclopedia. 



38 DUPLICATE SCHOOLS IN THE BRONX 

(5) How to find material related to classroom 
work. 

(6) Telling of stories by librarian to introduce 
special classes of books. 

4. Needs. The libraries are not yet completely 
equipped. Among the recorded wants are the following: 

(1) A Dewey decimal classification. 

(2) Cutter author's table. 

(3) Bulletin board. 

(4) Shelf labels with celluloid covers. 

(5) More books suitable to the grades using the 
library. 

(6) Window boxes. 

(7) A low desk or shelf where books of reference 
may be consulted. 

(8) Some good pictures. 

All the schools are short of books. Many of the 
articles specified above can be made in the manual 
training shop. Pictures and casts are included in the 
standard equipment of the library. 

5. Accomplished. In the three following paragraphs 
we have a record of the work done in three schools : 

(1) Most of the pupils have learned to read quietly 
and continuously; the 6B's have had dictionary 
practice; children have kept records of books read; 
much supplementary reading in history, geography, 
science; pupils have read books on Chivalry, Ruskin's 
''King of the Golden River," ''Alice in Wonderland," 
'^Irish Fairy Tales," "Poems of American Patriot- 
ism," "Stories from Shakespeare," books on nature, 
etc. 

(2) Forty different classes have been sent to the 
library for reading periods of fifty minutes daily. 
During the term there has been a circulation of about 
5,000 books. 

(3) Pupils of each grade have had the privilege of 
taking home one book each week, with free access to 



THE CAEPENTER SHOP 39 

shelves for study and research. The circulation to 
date is 9,000. 

6. Grades. The range of grades to which library work 
was extended in the several schools is as follows: School 
1: 1A-8B; School 2: 3B-8B; School 3: 3A-8B; 
School 4: 5A-6B. 

CARPENTER AND CABINETMAKER 

Public School 45 has a carpenter shop and Public 
School 53 has a cabinet shop. A cabinetmaker is one 
who makes household furniture. A carpenter does the 
framing and other heavy woodwork in the construction 
of houses and ships. A joiner does the Ughter work of 
building, supplying doors, casings, and finishings. In 
the United States the work of a carpenter is commonly 
understood to include that of the joiner. Hence it will 
be seen that carpentry implies a broader training than 
cabinetmaking. A carpenter shop is more useful in the 
maintenance of the school plant than a cabinet shop. 

1. Aim. 

(1) Through the use of tools to arouse a desire to 
create something. 

(2) To develop a sense of responsibility. 

(3) To interpret and apply plans. 

(4) To make minor repairs about the building, such 
as fixing locks, doors, seats, tables. 

(5) To give the boy an opportunity to find out 
whether he would like to take up the activity as a 
trade. 

2. Equipment. The carpenter shop is very inade- 
quately equipped. Its habitat is in the cellar. We are 
building an addition to the school, which will furnish a 
decent place for the carpenter. The equipment at 
present is limited to the following: 



40 DUPLICATE SCHOOLS IN THE BRONX 

A regular supply of carpenter's tools, two benches 
supplied by the board of education, three made by 
the boys, three tool closets, three lumber racks, a 
wood trimmer, and a foot-power fret saw. 

The cabinetmaker has the equipment described under 
the head of Manual Training, plus five motor-driven 
woodworking machines. 

3. Course of Study. There is no official course. 
The carpenter gives the boy an opportunity to learn the 
use of the tools, to learn to make and read working 
drawings, and to become familiar with the main features 
of building and construction work. 

The cabinetmaker selects problems suitable to the 
grade and age of the pupil. He gives lectures on all 
tools and on woods, stains, and polishes. 

4. Results. The crowning achievement of the car- 
penter for the year is the construction, with boy labor 
exclusively, of a greenhouse for the school sixty feet long. 
Besides this, he has done innumerable small jobs about 
the building. 

The cabinetmaker's problems were similar to those of 
an ordinary manual training teacher, because his ma- 
chinery has not yet been set up. He has, however, made 
school repairs valued at $210, 

5. Grades. Carpenter: 6A-8B; Cabinetmaker: 
4B-8B. 

MUSIC 

Music is taught in all cases by regular grade teachers 
who have musical taste and talent. 

1. Aim. This is expressed by four teachers as follows: 
(a) 'To develop and improve tone quality. 



TEACHERS OF MUSIC 41 

(b) ''To teach rote singing and sight reading. 

(c) 'To cultivate a taste for good music." 

A very successful music teacher puts it thus : 

(1) "To enable the student to read music. 

(2) "To get him to acquire the habit of part 
singing. 

(3) "To instil a love for good music." 

2. Equipment. For classroom teaching there is as 
yet no special equipment except the usual music books, 
charts, etc. For auditorium singing the equipment con- 
sists of a piano, a victrola, a player-piano, books, records, 
etc. 

3. Course of Study. All the teachers report that 
they are following the official course of study except one. 
She, however, uses a schedule of work supplied each week 
by the supervisor of music. 

4. Results Accomplished. One of the best teachers 
reports the following work accomplished in one term : 

(1) Classroom work (7A-8B) : 

(a) Ability to recognize keys from signa- 
tures. 

(b) Ability to place do on the staff in each 
key. 

(c) Major, minor, and chromatic scales sung. 

(d) Dictation, particular attention to chro- 

matic tones. 

(e) Five four-part songs: 

1. May Pole. 

2. In Old Madrid. 

3. John Peel. 

4. Hunting Song. 

5. The Heavens are Telling. 

(2) Auditorium — Six four-part songs : 

(a) All Through the Night. 

(b) Blue Bells of Scotland. 



42 DUPLICATE SCHOOLS IN THE BRONX 



(c) Joy! Joy! Freedom to-day. 

(d) Vesper Hymn. 

(e) Oh, Worship the King. 

(f) Kingdoms and Thrones. 

(g) Six Patriotic Songs (Unison) : 

1. American Hymn. 

2. Dixie. 

3. Maryland! My Maryland! 

4. Old Glory. 

5. Old Folks at Home. 

6. Home, Sweet Home. 

(3) Lectures: Lives of Composers. 

(4) Orchestra. 

(5) Illustrations on Victrola. 

5. Handicaps. In this activity, judging from these 
reports, there are more difficulties to hamper the teacher 
than in any other department. Here are some of the 
complaints : 

(1) "Noises from the playground." 

(2) ''Noises from street traffic." 

(3) ''Going from room to room." 

(4) "Classes too large." 

(5) "Children look upon music as a bugbear; hard 
work to get boys to study exercises; not enough 
books; three sets of classes in one term; very monot- 
onous to begin at the beginning every six weeks." 

(6) "Lack of concentration, due to changing rooms, 
carrying clothes, sharing seats and books, loss of 
time, problems of discipline." 

(7) "Bulky charts have to be carried about." 

(8) "Time too short." 

(9) "Teaching four grades requires a great deal of 
preparation." 

(10) "Teaching in a room next to auditorium 
where 200 children are singing." 

This is rather a formidable list. Conferences have 
already been held for the purpose of curing the ills com- 
plained of. The only teacher who records no handicaps 



MANUAL TRAINING 43 



is the one whose fine achievements are Hsted under 
*' results." 

MANUAL TRAINING 

There are manual training shops in all the duplicate 
schools, but in Public School 53 this work is '^ pre voca- 
tional" in character, and in PubUc School 45 there is a 
carpenter shop in addition to the manual training shop. 
In this connection I shall therefore consider only the five 
manual training shops in Public Schools 6, 28, 42, 44, and 
45, the cabinet shop and carpenter shop having already 
had separate treatment. 

1. Aim. The various aims enumerated by the teachers 
may be summarized thus: 

(1) Motor expression and industrial insight. 

(2) To represent, in as practical a way as possible, 
the building and other constructive interests we see 
about us every day. 

It is gratifying to note that each of these men has the 
social point of view, and understands that construction 
in wood is just a part of " education," is a mode of 
expression, and aims to adjust the pupil to his industrial 
environment. 

2. Equipment. The typical equipment consists of the 
following : 

15 double benches, each equipped with the following 
tools : 

Jack plane. 1-inch chisel. 

Smoothing plane. J^-inch chisel. 

Hand saw. J^-inch chisel. 

Bock saw. Marking guage. 

Claw hammer. Screw driver. 

Mallet. Sloyd knife. 

Bench hook. Try-square. 

2-foot rule. Sandpaper. 



44 DUPLICATE SCHOOLS IN THE BRONX 

There is also a general closet containing bits, braces, 
bevels, etc. 

3. Course of Study. There is a prescribed course of 
study in this subject, but fortunately this allows wide 
latitude as to the objects to be constructed. It is thus 
possible to use the course in a duplicate school without 
doing violence either to the course or to the theory of the 
school. 

4. Results. In one shop only pupils of the seventh 
and eighth grades have been taught. In others the 
sixth grade is included, and in several the fifth also. The 
problems are largely individual. Here is a specimen of 
the kind of things that were constructed during last 
term: desks, tables, chairs, costumers, music cabinets, 
music stands, benches, china cabinets, hat stands, bulletin 
boards, 100 picture frames for the art department, maga- 
zine racks, blacking stand, electric droplight, sewing 
stand, umbrella stand, cement arches, multiple truss, 
king truss, suspension bridge, window seats, pencil 
sharpeners, key racks, spool holders for the dressmaking 
classes. 

5. Handicaps. No serious difficulties are reported by 
any of the teachers. Several of them wish they had 
power machines; that is, they would like to convert their 
manual training shops into carpenter or cabinet shops. 

PLAY AND PHYSICAL TRAINING 

1. Aim. It is exceedingly interesting to compare the 
aims of this activity as stated by different teachers. 
Here is one, for instance, who states the matter tersely 
thus: " To allow the child to develop physically, mentally, 
and socially through play activity." Another in the same 



PLAY AND PHYSICAL TRAINING 45 

school puts it this way: ''To obtain good posture; to 
make pupils alert, accurate, graceful in movement, 
vigorous, and able to endure; to teach normal play forms 
for after-school use; and to give girls the fullest enjoy- 
ment and benefit of appropriate athletic play and folk 
dancing." Still another in the same school varies the 
statement in this fashion: " To increase the social and 
physical education of children; to provide an enriched 
curriculum through play and recreation; and to main- 
tain a high standard of health and efficiency." 

It is evident from these several formulations that this 
principal has picked the right teachers for his playground, 
for they have admirably stated the correct idea of play 
and physical training. 

We have, however, equally successful expressions of the 
aims of physical education from other schools. Here is 
one taken from the combined report of two teachers: 

'' The fifty-minute period is divided between formal 
physical training and play; therefore, we shall outline the 
aim under separate heads, as follows: 

''1. Physical Training. — The aim has been to secure 
immediate response to commands; to secure concerted 
movement of large masses with the least possible noise; 
to develop the power of inhibition; and the desire to 
co-operate on the part of the pupil. 

''The psychological aim has been to develop automatic 
co-ordinations with the purpose of making certain move- 
ments objective rather than subjective; to promote 
alertness, precision, speed, and grace; to develop through 
conscious effort the habit of good posture. 

"The physiological aim is the correction of faulty 
posture while standing, marching, or exercising; the 
improvement of health through hygienic exercises. 

"2. Play.— The aim here is fundamentally recreative 
and hygienic; to release pupils from the mental and 



46 DUPLICATE SCHOOLS IN THE BRONX 

physical strain of formal work; to secure the happy 
abandon of street play with the element of lawlessness 
eliminated; to develop an ideal and habit of f airplay and 
team-work; to subordinate the individual to the interests 
of the team." 

All of which, in my judgment, is admirably put. 

2. Equipment. The equipment varies in different 
schools and is in many cases incomplete and inadequate. 
Among the wants recorded are the following: 

(1) Basket balls and goals. 

(2) Asphalt floor should receive a dust-holding 
dressing. 

(3) Wands, dumb-bells, Indian clubs, swing ropes, 
jumping mats, jumping standards, handballs, foot 
balls, jumping ropes, horse-reins, quiet games (such 
as checkers, dominoes, spelling boards), tables, 
benches, cabinets, desks and lockers (for teachers), 
and a phonograph. 

As some of our schools have all that is here enumerated 
and more, there is no good reason for the neglect indicated. 
But in a large complex organization like the New York 
school system, where many different persons and bureaus 
must co-operate to buy even a baseball, such lapses will 
now and then occur. 

Five of the schools included in this report have gym- 
nasia for formal physical training work, properly equipped, 
in addition to the indoor playground, which, in New 
York schools, usually consists of the ground floor of the 
building. Public School 45 has just received an appro- 
priation of $140,000 for the purchase of a garden and a 
large out-door playground. A similar playground has 
already been purchased for PubUc School 53. Public 
Schools 28 and 44 should have similar extensions of their 
play space. Public School 42 uses Claremont Park for 
outdoor play. 



PLAY AND PHYSICAL TRAINING 47 

3. Course of Study. As a rule, the regular course of 
study is followed. But, as the children have more time 
and also more space and apparatus for play than is the 
case in ordinary schools, the prescribed course is em- 
ployed as a minimum, and is modified and extended as 
circumstances may warrant. Thus: '' Since the present 
arrangements bring boys of six grades into the playground 
at once, a course of study has been devised by combining 
the more difficult exercises of the lower grades with the 
simpler exercises of the higher grades." Two others 
report: ''We have not modified the course of study." 
One says: ** In addition to the regular class drills given 
at the beginning of the periods, special advice and exer- 
cises are provided. Anaemic pupils and those suffering 
from malnutrition receive advice about diet. Short talks 
on training for athletic events are frequently given." 
Perhaps the following statement is typical of the group 
of schools: ** The regular course of study is used in the 
gymnasium, but is supplemented by formal work, dancing, 
and games in the yard." 

4. Results Accomplished. By their fruits ye shall 
know them. Therefore, the supreme question is, "What 
has the play feature of the duplicate schools done for the 
children? " That it has made them happy, there can be 
no serious question. That it has improved their health is 
presumptively true and is attested by several principals, 
doctors, and nurses. This matter is to be tested scien- 
tifically by the Physical Training Director during the 
coming year. Meanwhile let us hear what the teachers 
say: 

(1) Better discipline; greater alertness; better 
posture; increased desire for posture. 

(2) Better sportsmanship in play. 

(3) Learned many new games and dances. 



48 DUPLICATE SCHOOLS IN THE BRONX 

(4) The boys of the first five years were able (in 
one school) to qualify for tests in chinning for borough 
championship, and the classes of Grades five, six, 
seven and eight qualified without an exception. 

(5) A new spirit of self-reliance and self-control, 
and quick adaptability to conditions. 

(6) Children with physical defects are receiving 
correctional exercises. 

(7) Play in parks has been congenial to children 
and less of a strain on teachers. 

(8) Pupils have learned something of squad organi- 
ization under squad captains for play purposes; have 
realized that others have rights, even in play; and 
have been taught to respect those rights. 

5. Handicaps. Lack of adequate equipment and 
supplies is mentioned as the chief handicap by twelve out 
of seventeen play teachers. Here are a few typical 
statements : 

(1) Pillars should be padded to avoid accident. 

(2) Lack of adequate space and equipment. 

(3) On stormy days only the inside yard can be 
used, consequently there is uncomfortable crowding. 

(4) A mistaken notion among pupils that they 
were not to be subject to any control whatever under 
the new system. 

(5) Unsanitary toilet. 

(6) Too few teachers. 

(7) Children in the lower grades (in one school) 
have two fifty-minute periods. This is too much 
play. 

(8) Presence of first-year children with their sing- 
ing games while upper classes are doing formal work. 

Many of these criticisms are just and call for remedies. 
It is essential to provide proper play space for one division 
of a school, consisting usually of one-sixth or one-eighth 
of the children. Not one of the evils mentioned is inherent 
in the system, but most of them are due to sudden reor- 
ganization and lack of experience. 



COMMERCIAL CLASSES 49 



COMMERCIAL WORK 

We have at present three schools with a commercial 
department. These are 6, 44, and 53. 

1. Aim. One teacher aims to teach typewriting, book- 
keeping, letter-writing, bill-making, filing. Another has 
aims a little more specific. 

1. Commercial Arithmetic. — The application of the 
child's knowledge of arithmetic to practical business 
work by the use of drills in rapid calculation, short 
methods, business forms. 

^ 2. Commercial English.— Common business abbre- 
viations, spelling, meaning and use of business terms; 
composition of various types of business letters. 

3. Commercial Geography.— To train powers of 
observation; to familiarize the pupil with the com- 
mercial geography of New York City and environs. 

4. Typewriting.— To lay the foundation for future 
study of the subject. 

2. Equipment. For the present the usual equipment 
of the commercial room in a duplicate school of New York 
is as follows : 

10 Underwood typewriters. No. 5. 

10 Tables and stools. 

20 Stationary desks and seats. 

3. Course of Study. Thus far the board of superin- 
tendents has provided no course of study. This gives the 
principals and teachers indefinite latitude, to experiment 
and adapt the work to the needs of pupils. In two schools 
only the children of the seventh and eighth grades are 
sent to the commercial department; but in the remaining 
school the commercial group includes grades 5A-8B. It 
is doubtless desirable to permit children of lower grades 
from twelve to fourteen years of age to get elementary 
commercial training. One of the commercial teachers, 



50 DUPLICATE SCHOOLS IN THE BRONX 

who has made a special study of this work, has devised 
the following tentative course of study for his school : 

7A. Business arithmetic, short methods in the four 
rules, and business fractions; forms, bills, receipts, 
checks. 

7B. Business arithmetic, as in 7A; interest; bank 
discount and discounting notes; forms — bills, re- 
ceipts, checks (with endorsement, stops, etc.), notes 
(receivable, payable, protests) ; bookkeeping — simple 
personal cash accounts. 

8A-8B. Typewriting (touch), bookkeeping (ele- 
mentary) ; business arithmetic to correlate with bills 
and accounts, with special emphasis on discounting 
interest-bearing notes. 

It will be recalled that the children rotate among the 
special activities of the school, so that in no case do they 
pursue these studies for more than thirteen weeks at a 
time. But while they do receive instruction they have it 
every day. 

One teacher complains that ten typewriters are not 
enough; but another shows how to make use of this 
equipment, thus: "The commercial room has ten type- 
writers and twenty bookkeeping desks. Thirty pupils 
are thus accommodated at one time. While ten are 
working at their typewriters, twenty are at their books, 
and at the end of a given period one-third of the class 
go to the typewriters and another third go to the books.'' 

4. Results. In one school the teacher has accom- 
plished these results during the last term: ''In typewriting 
children have learned the uses of the different parts of 
the machine, two rows of keys, and the use of the shift 
key for capitals. They were also able to typewrite copies 
of Instructions for Field Day. In bookkeeping they learned 
the necessity of keeping books, the day book, posting, 
cash book, making statements. They have learned 



COMMERCIAL CLASSES 51 



about the different kinds of business letters, their char- 
acteristics, parts, and essentials. They know different 
types of bills and how to make out and receipt the same. 
In the matter of filing they have filled out and catalogued 
blue and white pupils' record cards of the school. They 
have also made several sets of indexes for the record card 
files." 

5. Handicaps. Among the handicaps mentioned are 
the following: (1) Only ten typewriters (I have quoted 
a reply to this criticism), (2) Some of the children are 
too young to grasp the meaning and importance of the 
work. The teacher who makes this complaint suggests 
that only children of the eighth grade be sent to the com- 
mercial room. Manifestly, we must except from this 
suggestion over-age pupils in lower grades. In one school 
children remained in the commercial room only four 
weeks, and the teacher justly mentions this as one of her 
handicaps. This type of school is so new to us all that 
we shall probably continue to make many mistakes before 
the path of wisdom is discovered. 

This section of the report was handed for criticism to a 
teacher of commercial subjects in a Philadelphia high 
school. The following comments made by her deserve 
serious consideration, and I am, therefore, including 
them as a basis for conference discussion : 

^^Typewriting. — My experience has convinced me 
that one teacher cannot do justice to a class divided 
into typewriting and bookkeeping sections, the two 
sections being conducted simultaneously. If correct 
habits are to be established in typewriting, the con- 
stant supervision of the teacher is imperative. Even 
shields will not insure an accurate touch writing habit, 
nor prevent a lapse into habits of carelessness that 
it will require years to overcome. 



52 DUPLICATE SCHOOLS IN THE BRONX 

"Aside from this feature of supervision, the class 
in typewriting cannot hope to get adequate practice 
while a bookkeeping section is being taught. The 
teaching of bookkeeping requires constant black- 
board demonstration, especially with youthful begin- 
ners; and even were a teacher willing to shout her 
explanations above the din of ten pounding machines, 
she could not be assured that all of her pupils would 
profit by instruction given under such distracting 
conditions. 

^^ Remedy. — Equip one room with as many type- 
writers as there are children in the largest class. 
The desks holding these machines should be pro- 
vided with the 'disappearing" device in order to 
leave a flat surface for desk work. Such a classroom 
may thus be used alternately for bookkeeping and 
typewriting, the two subjects being handled by the 
same teacher." 

MACHINE SHOP 

Public School 42 possesses the only machine shop thus 
far installed in the duplicate schools of The Bronx. 

1. Aim. "To train pupils in the practice of using 
machine tools; also in the filing, fitting, and assembling 
of machine parts; necessity for precision in work; thinking 
for one's self." 

2. Equipment. 

4 Engine lathes. 
2 Speed lathes. 
1 Shaper. 

1 20-inch drill-press. 
1 Sensitive drill press. 
1 Power saw. 
1 Wet grinder. 
1 Dry grinder (2 wheels). 
1 Work bench. 
10 Vises. 
1 10-h.p. electric motor. 



THE MACHINE SHOP 53 

Small tool equipment as follows: Calipers, steel 

rules, combination sets, V-blocks, drills, reamers, 

parallel clamps, micrometers, surface-plates, pliers, 

hammers, etc. 

The following articles are needed in addition to the 

above stock of supplies : 

2 dozen round files, 3^ -inch diameter. 

2 '' '' " y^' " " 

1 " half round files, 6 inches long. 

1 It H (( l( O (I (( 

1 " " '' '' 12 '' " (all to be of 
the variety known to the trade as bastard 
files), 63 lb. cold rolled steel. 

No. 8, Brown and Sharpe gauge (sheet steel). 

3. Course of Study (unofficial): 

(1) Explanation of parts and uses of machines. 

(2) Practice in the operation of each machine. 

(3) Practice in the use of files in working at a 
bench. 

(4) Instruction in the use of small tools. 

(5) Care of machines and small tools. 

(6) Lessons in safety. 

4. Work Accomplished (one term) : 

(1) Repaired power saw in machine shop. 

(2) Repaired throw-off lever bracket of printing 
press by screwing two steel laps to the bracket to 
hold same together. 

(3) Manufactured 12 square-hole tap or reamer 
wrenches, holes varying in size from 3^ -inch to ^ 
inches. 

(4) Full size floating rear axle for automobile. 

(5) 12 flat double-end wrenches fitted to standard 
size nuts from J/^-inch to ^-inch. 

(6) 1 miniature cannon (muzzle-load) on wheels, 
cannon 11 inches long, made from 334 -inch forged 
steel. 

5. Suggestion. This teacher knows of no handicaps. 
He is of the opinion, however, that the period is a little 



54 DUPLICATE SCHOOLS IN THE BRONX 

too short. In his school shop periods vary from 75 
minutes to 85 minutes. If the fifty minute period were 
adopted the shop time would be 100 minutes a day. The 
grades taught are 6B to 8B. 

POTTERY 

There is only one pottery in the district, and this is 
located in Public School 45. Our potter is from the Five 
Towns in England, made famous by Arnold Bennett. 
His work is supplemented by a sculptor, employed 
privately, who is an artist of no mean ability. This is 
the way the potter expresses his — 

1. Aim. "To arouse and encourage the creative 
instinct; to develop the individual and give him an 
opportunity and necessary training for his growth; 
through his hands and eyes to teach him beauty of form 
evolved from a common substance, leading to appreciation 
of beautiful work in other materials." 

2. Equipment. Modeling tools, brushes, scales, small 
decorator's wheels, small color wheel, gas-heated kiln. 
For advanced pupils the equipment should (but does not 
now) include: Power-driven wheel and jigger, power- 
driven mill, foot-lathe for turning, damp box for keeping 
ware in condition. 

3. Course of Study (not official): 

(1) Manipulation of clay in its various conditions, 
concurrently with the forming of pieces by the coiling 
process. 

(2) Forms made usually follow outlines supplied by 
teacher. 

(3) At irregular intervals pupil is left to his own 
devices to originate shapes. 

(4) Decoration in colored clays. 



THE POTTERY CLASS 55 

(5) Designs in super-imposed clay. 

(6) Clay cut away from design, leaving it in relief. 

(7) Process of casting in plaster moulds. 

4. Work Accomplished. There are about 500 pieces 
ready for the kiln, including a number of sets ordered by 
the board of education to serve as drawing models in 
other schools. In addition, there is a large stock of 
finished pieces, glazed and fired, on hand for the inspection 
of visitors. 

5. Handicaps: "Unless a pupil has natural dexterity 
of fingers combined with neatness, the period (13 weeks) 
during which he receives instruction is not long enough 
for him to attain proficiency. It would be helpful if the 
teacher were allowed to nominate a certain number of 
pupils to continue the course for a second term. Pro- 
vision should also be made to permit the teacher to go to 
school after school hours, when the management of the 
kiln makes his presence imperative." 

6. Grades (5A-8B). I have been much impressed 
by the success of this class. The joy of the children in 
the work is obvious. As a form of manual training model- 
ing is fundamental. Making mud pies is instinctive, and 
our pottery is simply a method of hitching the instinct 
to the educational chariot. 

SHEET METAL SHOP 

There is one such shop in the district at present. This 
is in Public School 53. 

The aim the teacher has in view is manumental training, 
"discovering vocational aptitude, giving a wider experi- 
ence in manual work." 

1. Equipment. Two work benches, 12 ft. by 4 ft. 
each with 12 slide drawers for hand tools, and 24 smaller 



56 DUPLICATE SCHOOLS IN THE BRONX 

drawers for children's work. These benches have sheet 
iron tops to protect them from the flames of 3 gas stoves 
belonging to each bench. Each of the 12 drawers is 
equipped with mallet, compass, pliers, try square, hand 
shears, hammer, scratch awl. A general tool closet con- 
tains punches of various sizes, solder, salamoniac, rosin, 
tinners, scale rules, large cutting shears, circular and 
straight. There is one painting and staining bench, zinc 
covered, containing accommodations for storing paints, 
brushes, etc. There are also the following: 

1 Cutting or squaring shears. 

1 Grooving machine. 

1 Rolling machine. 

1 Beading machine. 

1 Elbow turning machine. 

1 Double seaming machine. 

6 Iron vises. 

Various sizes and kinds of hand stakes or anvils. 

2. Course of Study. There is no official course of 
study. Models and problems selected by the teacher 
were adapted to children of grades 6 A to 8B, and included 
the following : 

(1) Soldering. 

(2) Cutting with hand shears, straight and circular. 

(3) Making small metal boxes. 

(4) Biscuit moulds of various designs. 

(5) Match boxes. 

(6) Drinking cups. 

(7) Book stands. 

(8) Frames for class schedules. 

(9) Roof ventilator. 

(10) Small metal stoves. 

(11) Lectures on all tools and hand machines and 
various metals and flux for soldering purposes. 

3. Needs. A boy should have clean hands when he 
leaves the shop; hence a lavatory is needed in this room. 



PRINTING CLASSES 57 



PRINTING 

There are four print shops in the six schools now 
operating. The reports are here dove-tailed in such a 
way as to make a more complete exhibit than can be 
found in any single report. The schools with print shops 
are 28, 42, 44, 45. 

1. Aim. This is what the printers try to accomplish: 

(1) Give children an opportunity to discover and 
develop latent ability. 

(2) Afford children an opportunity to find out 
whether they would like to follow printing as a trade. 

(3) Give practical apphcation of English. 

2. Equipment, Two Chandler and Price presses; 
paper cutter; 5 type cabinets, 23 drawers each; 50 fonts 
of type; 200 lb. 10 pt. Roman; 50 lb. 12 pt. Roman; 50 lb. 
8 pt. Roman; lead and rule cutter; 3 fonts labor saving 
brass rule; 3 rule cases; leads, slugs, and 2 cases for same; 
12 drawer filing or stock cabinet; imposing stone; lead 
and wood furniture; proof press; 12 composing sticks; 
chases, quoins, etc. 

Two shops have stitching machines. Most of the 
printers say the equipment is a little meagre. They all 
want more type. One wants more frames, a working 
cabinet for storing galleys with type-matter, a bank with 
several letter boards for keeping live jobs, a few more 
galleys, a metal closet for storing benzine and oil, some 
more supplies for presses. Another is entirely satisfied 
with supplies, but has only one press. A third desires 
the following: About 50 ft. of 1 point hair line brass rule 
for miscellaneous tabular work (labor-saving brass rule 
should not be cut); 1 extra rule case for above; 1 galley 
rack for 12 or more double-column galleys that will 
facilitate the handling of such galleys at one central point 



58 



DUPLICATE SCHOOLS IN THE BRONX 



for make-up, proofing, etc. 
a lavatory. 



There should be in each shop 



3. Course of Study. There is no prescribed course 
of study. Each school has been left free to devise its own 
course. Most of the work of the shops is ''prevocational," 
that is, it consists of doing real printing jobs for the school 
or some one else. The most detailed course is reported 
by the printing teacher in Public School 28. It is as 
follows: 



COMPOSITION 

1. Leads, Slugs, Rules. 

2. Furniture. 

3. The Case. 

4. Straight Matter. 

5. Distribution. 

6. Display Matter — Reprint. 

7. Distribution of Display. 

8. Correcting. 

9. Setting from Manuscript. 

a. Advertisements. 

b. Letterheads, Billheads, 

Cards. 

c. Circulars, Pamphlets. 

10. Tabular Work. 

11. Composition with Cuts. 

12. Make-Up. 

13. Typographical Construction 

of the Book . 

14. Typographical Construction 

of the Magazine. 

15. Study of Design. 

16. Lettering. 

17. School Newspaper. 

PROOFREADING 

1. Proofreaders' Marks. 

2. Galley Reading. 

3. Advertisements and Commer- 

cial Work . 

4. Proofreading by Copy. 

5. Revising. 

6. Page Reading. 

7. Stone Proofs. 

8. Press Proofs. 



9. Final Reading. 
10. Proof Criticisms. 

STONE WORK 

1. Locking Up for Small Press. 

a. Small Jobs. 

b. 2-Page and 4-Page Forms. 

2. Locking Up for Foundry. 

3. Breaking Up for Colors. 

4. Imposition. 

a. Hand Fold. 

b. Machine Fold. 

c. Color Forms. 

5. Lining Up Sheets. 



PRESS WORK 

Making Ready. 

a. Small Jobs. 

b. Pamphlets. 

c. Halftones. 
Feeding. 
Mixing of Inks. 



2. 
3. 
4. Paper. 

LECTURE WORK 

1. History of Printing. 

2. Development of the Industry. 

3. Biographical Sketches. 

4. Present Methods of Printing. 

5. Study of Ink. 

6. Study of Paper. 

7. Study of Cuts. 

a. Halftones. 

b. Electrotypes. 

c. Stereotypes. 



PRINTING CLASSES 59 



d. Zinc Engravings. FIELD WORK 

e. Wood Cuts. 1. Visiting Other Printing 

8. State of the Printing Trade. Schools. 

a. Book and Job Office. 2. Visiting Printing Offices. 

b. Newspaper Office. 3, Visiting Electrotype Firms. 

9. Opportunities in the Trade. 4. Visiting Type Foundries. 
10. Inventions. 5. Visiting Paper Mills. 

6. Visiting Ink Factories. 

7. Visiting Publishing Houses. 

4. Work Accomplished. In one school the children 
have printed library cards; envelopes; record cards for two 
schools; lists of requirements in geography, history, and 
arithmetic for admission to grade 7 A. Another reports: 
''The printing needs of our school are such as to demand 
practically the entire product of our press. At present 
we are engaged on a 40-page booklet of compositions and 
poems written by school children. We also have in hand 
our semi-annual school book called The Children, which 
consists of 16 pages and two-color cover design. We have 
had a few orders from outside people. The fund accu- 
mulated is used to meet shop expenses. Accurate record 
is kept of income and expenditure." 

Still another says: 'The children have printed 18 jobs 
(in one term), consisting of cards, spelling lists, poems, 
proverbs, etc. They have also printed our monthly 
school journal of 8 pages with cover. One job of 4 pages 
was printed for the district superintendent. For him also 
we stitched 3,000 copies of our 8-page circular on 
grammar." 

5. Handicaps. "Too many pupils during certain 
periods. This will shortly be remedied. Boys are the 
logical pupils." 

The shops are open to girls as well as boys. One teacher 
reports no handicaps, and another needs only a few sup- 
plies to complete his happiness. 



60 DUPLICATE SCHOOLS IN THE BRONX 

6. Grades. In one school only children of the seventh 
and eighth grades have been assigned to printing; but in 
others the fifth and sixth grades are included also. 

PERIODS OF ROTATION 

One of the characteristic features of the duplicate 
schools is the rotation of pupils among the several special 
activities. The object of this plan is to give the child as 
varied an experience as possible. It is a vocational try- 
out, to ascertain and develop interest and talent. The 
theory asserts that more can be accomplished by intensive 
work recurring daily than by infrequent efforts spread 
over a long period. In Gary, Indiana, the period of 
rotation is thirteen weeks. In that town the schools 
have three promotions a year. The period of rotation in 
special activities, therefore, coincides with the school 
term. In New York we have but two promotions, hence 
the most convenient period for rotation would be twenty 
weeks, but this would give the pupil more time in certain 
subjects than the course of study allows. 

In view of this difficulty, various periods have been 
experimentally employed by the several principals. For 
example, one says: 

''Children in grades 4B-8B change from one activity to 
another activity every 20 days. I insist, as far as possible, 
that every child shall have every activity mentioned in the 
course of study and the full allotment of time. In lower 
grades children change every 6 weeks (32 days.) Special 
teachers of science, shop, and cooking are reasonably sure 
this consecutive work is to the advantage of their classes. 
Teachers of drawing like this scheme reasonably well. 
Teachers of music find it successful during the time chil- 
dren are coming to them, but there is a loss in waiting 
four months for further classroom music." 



PERIODS OF ROTATION 61 

Another principal writes : 

''We change about once a month. I do not intend to 
support this plan by any educational argument beyond 
the fact that I want to keep all pupils in the same class at 
the same stage of progress at the beginning of each term. 
To do this I felt it necessary to provide that all pupils 
receive instruction in all activities during the present term. 

''I made five changes during the past term, but among 
these changes were assignments to library and gymnasium. 
I hope to make a more satisfactory programme next term, 
by having fewer changes for continuous periods and 
alternating with the others throughout the entire term." 

A number of teachers in this school have complained of 
too frequent changes. 
A third principal submits this statement : 

"A re-arrangement is made in the special activities at 
the end of each four weeks. This does not necessarily 
mean that a subject is dropped and another substituted, 
as many classes continue the same activity for two full 
periods of 4 weeks each (8 weeks) . But some changes are 
necessary in order to fit in all classes for the required times. 

"The general idea is to carry on any given activity con- 
tinuously until the time assigned to it for a term has been 
used up. In the case of a subject like shop-work, two 
full periods a day (100 minutes) are given. This calls for 
a period of four weeks to fill in the required time. 

'*In the case of other special activities (e. g., drawing) 
it would be inadvisable to have daily periods of 100 min- 
utes each. The length of period, therefore, has been 
changed to 50 minutes. Consequently, the duration of 
this special activity is 8 weeks to fill out the required time 
devoted to the subject. In the main the special subjects 
"Bre continued for 8 weeks before being dropped. 

''I do not think the periodic assignment can be justi- 
fied for all the subjects even in the above list. For the 
subject of music I considered it wrong, and so excluded 
music, allowing this subject to extend over the entire 
term (a correspondingly small amount of time per week). 



62 DUPLICATE SCHOOLS IN THE BRONX 

"In such subjects as library, drawing, science, I question 
whether there is necessity or justification for the intensive 
method. I can see no reason why pupils should need the 
library for a certain number of weeks and then find no 
further use for it. 

"It seems to me that the intensive method of handling 
a subject is applicable only where manual dexterity is 
being developed. In the above list it would include (1) 
typewriting in the commercial room (not the other part 
of commercial subjects), (2) shop work, (3) and possibly 
cooking." 

In still another school the thirteen-week period of Gary 
is in use. 

METHOD OF ASSIGNMENT TO SPECIAL 
ACTIVITIES 

The method of assigning children to the various activi 
ties, the order of rotation, and the amount of choice 
allowed, was also investigated. Here are typical forms 
of procedure : 

Principal A: 

"All children must take all the activities required by 
the course of study. Children with the permission of 
parents are allowed to choose printing or typewriting and 
drop other special activities. The order in which children 
take up special activities is controlled under my scheme 
of rotation by the program. 

"Records are kept in class ledger of special subjects 
taken by children. Each child has five lines from right 
to left across the page allotted to him for his record. At 
the top of the page are the subjects taken each month and 
from month to month the points obtained in each subject. 
The record book is the ordinary leather covered class 
record." 

Principal B; 

"In assigning children to special activities, I have not 
been able to follow any uniform method, as there are 



ASSIGNMENT TO SPECIAL ACTIVITIES 63 

double and single periods in certain subjects. I gave the 
preference of double periods to the higher grades. As 
long as there must be double periods for cooking and shop- 
work, there will always be two single periods per day left 
in these subjects, and if the higher grades are to be given 
preference, the scheme providing for the assignment of 
special subjects in the same order for all classes will 
always be impossible. 

''Records of changes in assignment are kept by classes, 
and since all pupils in a class follow the same programme, 
the record of any individual pupil corresponds with the 
record of his class. There have been very few exceptions 
to this rule and in these cases individual records have been 
kept." 

Principal C: 

" During the course of one term, the pupils have devoted 
some part of their time to each of the several activities. 

" Pupils are not at liberty to elect except the commercial 
course, the special subjects in my school being all included 
in the prescribed course of study. 

" No general principle governs the sequence of these 
subjects during the course of the term. If, for example, 
shop should properly come first during the term, then 
only one class can be correct in this respect. Another 
class must have the last part of the term and be assigned 
contrary to the assumed principle. The other classes 
between the extremes will be correspondingly right or 
wrong in assignment.'* 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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